Some devices and/or systems require testing in extreme environments. For example, such devices or systems (also collectively referred to here as “units under test” and individually as a “unit under test”) are tested in a test chamber (also referred to here as an “environmental chamber”) that provide the desired extreme environmental conditions for the unit under test for at least a portion of the testing. During formal qualification of a unit under test, opening the environmental chamber is typically not permitted by the testing protocol even if a portion of a unit under test fails. If the environmental chamber is opened to probe a failed device in the unit under test, to change out a failed part of the unit under test, or to directly troubleshoot the failed the unit under test, the testing can be compromised. For example, if the environmental chamber is opened during the testing, the operational characteristics of the failure may change. In some cases the failure is masked by the opening of the environmental chamber during the test.
Additionally, some units under test typically require testing in test chambers that are remotely located, such as for example, airborne vehicles. In such a case, it is typically not possible to probe, examine and/or replace any failed part of the unit under test. Likewise, some units under test typically require testing in test chambers that are remotely located and that can be subjected to extreme environments, such as for example, space vehicles orbiting above the atmosphere of the earth.